"I don't know, maybe it has no battery."
"No, that's not it." Taking off his glasses he rubbed his tired eyes and exhaled. "It appears to be radiation."
The man had introduced himself as Doctor Bruce Banner, one of the men in her initial interrogation. He was working on her phone, or at least retrieving the information inside it. At risk of sounding like a typical millennial, her whole life was inside the device, and maybe her captors would accept the evidence as proof that she wasn't some sort of spy, that she was just a normal person with a normal life. After all, sometimes strange things happen to average people, so her strange travel experience must have not been entirely her fault. At least she thought so.
Doctor Banner put her phone on a tray and began to run some sort of analysis, frowning here and there with each beep of the machinery. She was still escorted by the two women which she suspected to be guards, but the others had disappeared as soon as they left her on the doctor's care. She was waiting impatiently, biting the inside of her cheeks while her nervous eyes scanned the man's changing expressions. Until he raised his eyebrows.
"Oh no." He jumped back from her phone, almost dropping the tray where it was laying, and wildly gestured at her captors. "Get away from her!"
The guards took a quick step back while raising their weapons at her again. She pulled her hands over her head with a monotone demeanor, she seemed to get caught in this position quite often. "What now?". Doctor Banner rummaged through the drawers until he found what he was apparently looking for and threw the object at her.
"Catch it." The order came too late, but Maggie caught it regardless, weighing it between her fingers. It was relatively small but considerably heavy, and she noticed that it was some kind of digital device. "Can you read me the number it shows?" She complied, her intuition kicking at her mind. She knew what this was.
"The levels of radiation are outstanding." She threw the device back at him and he plugged it into a computer, admiring whatever feedback it was giving him back. "It's the same kind of energy we received from Loki's scepter, from the Tesseract, from- you get it." He carried on sharing his thoughts out loud, while the guards looked at each other.
"She should be isolated." The one closest to her suggested, which sounded more like a command. "She is a risk."
"No- see that's where you got it wrong." He laughed knowingly, like the whole situation was amusing to him. "This type of radiation, it's on a whole nother level. It doesn't propagate, it stays contained." He smiled at her, the first genuine smile she had received since she crashed in this mysterious place; although she suspected this was closer to scientific achievement than personal affection. Still, she would take it. "She doesn't present a threat, at least not contamination-wise."
"She is still an unidentified invader, trespassing on our land; so she's under our laws, Doctor." Maggie knew where she was getting to, and resigned herself to maintain her silence. "We will be the ones to decide whether or not she's a threat."
"No- yes- I understand what you mean." The man excused himself. "What I meant to say is that she's safe to be around, no need for a quarantine."
"And my phone?" Maggie quipped. "You can still see what's inside my phone, right?"
The three of them turned sharply to look at her, as if she wasn't allowed to make any kind of remarks. But it was her reputation, her life on the line, and she could care less about scepters and radiation, she wanted to untangle herself from this mess and come back home. However far that was now.
After a refreshing shower and a change of clothes, Maggie started to feel grounded again. The black pants and t-shirt were comfortable and breathable against her skin, and she quietly thanked whoever was listening that she no longer had to wear restrictions. The light breeze that filtered through the window was working wonders when it came to calming her nerves; but the room was still small, and she still felt trapped. In any other situation it would have been fine, but she knew her status was not that of a guest, and that was what was driving her up the walls.
Banner had talked of some sort of self-contained radiation, and she knew that nothing reacted well to any type of radiation, self-contained or not. Was she dying? She felt fine. She had examined herself after the shower and she hadn't found anything out of order. She was still the same, some cuts and bruises, but no strange glow or third arm.
"Bellamy." The blonde woman interrupted her musings, this time with a more open attitude. "There's good news and bad news." She gestured for her to follow.
"Are the bad ones really bad?"
She smirked, entertained, and guided her back to the grand room her previous trial had been hosted at. It was filled with people again, but no new faces from what she recalled. Except for one. There was a girl standing next to the woman she thought was in charge; she was elegantly dressed as well, but carried herself in a different manner. As if the whole weight of the world was on her shoulders. When she saw her she gave Maggie a lopsided smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Cadet Bellamy." The woman she had learned was a queen spoke to her. "We have reviewed the evidence you have provided, and determine this to be a… delicate situation."
No shit, it only took her half a minute to arrive to that conclusion. She stood her ground and looked back at her, expecting her to go on. But the girl carried on where the queen had left it.
"We have seen the pictures, the videos, your messages- everything, and your version is supported." Here's where the bad news came in, she knew it. "But there's a problem with it."
"What problem could there be, you said my story was corroborated?"
"Yes, but the issue is…" The girl trailed off, and evaluated her through squinted eyes, as if she was really interested in what her reaction would be. "Those people, the people in your phone, they don't exist exactly."
At first Maggie wasn't sure she had heard right, but when realisation dawned on her, the room froze. She lost all awareness of her surroundings, her mind too occupied with trying to make sense of what was just said. She doesn't exist, her family and friends don't exist… who exists then? What did they mean they do not exist?
"At first we believed your phone was part of your cover-up, but no one has gone to the lengths you've gone to devise a fake life, which raises many more questions." Maggie decided to interrupt the queen there.
"What do you mean they don't "exist exactly"?"
They seemed taken back by her interruption, either because of what she had decided to focus on or the impatient and demanding tone of her question.
"Those people do exist, have existed." Have? "But none of them have the names you gave them, most of them do not even have any relation between them."
"Can I- I just need a glass of water." She was having trouble articulating any words at all, let alone organizing her thoughts. She needed to leave her mind blank for a minute, maybe two or three.
The girl passed her a glass filled to the brim with liquid, which she downed slowly, closing her eyes. Maggie let the sensation wash her down and run through her body when she realised that the cup wasn't filled with water. It was some sort of infusion or tea, but it was cold. She passed the glass back to the girl and she took it with a kind smile.
Maggie suddenly noticed that everyone was quiet, expectant maybe, as they were looking intently at her.
"Shuri, you can proceed." The queen indicated.
The girl, whose name she had finally learned, stood in front of her and began to repeat the questions they had previously asked her.
"Short answers, please." She indicated. "Who are you?"
"Maggie Bellamy"
"Who do you work for?"
"I'm a Cadet at the U.S. Air Force."
"Are the people on your phone your friends and family?"
"Yes." She almost interrupted the girl this time. Of course they were.
"Is all the information you have given us about how you got here true?"
"Yes."
"Have you come here as a threat, with intention to hurt us?"
Maggie furrowed her brows, offended. "Of course not."
"Well then." This time the smile reached her eyes and she turned to speak to who she deduced was her mother. "She speaks truthfully."
The crowd murmured positively with themselves as if they finally believed her, and for the first time, she noticed the atmosphere surrounding her relax.
"I mean to cause no offence, Queen Ramonda." The bearded man, Steve, stepped up. "How can we trust what she said? I do not mean to doubt your people's myths, but how do we know that plant really worked?"
What plant? What were they going on about now?
"Because it is not just a story we tell our children, the plant's infusion separates the liars from the honest."
"We measured the effects of it on our lab." Shuri explained. "The venom only kicks in when the heart rate and breathing increases, which normally happens when people are lying. If she wasn't telling the truth she would be on the ground dying right now."
She raised her hand against the left side of her chest, feeling a pang that took her breath away. Did they just poison her? Maggie felt the beginning of a panic attack build up and she stared wide-eyed at the girl. And she noticed. She immediately rushed to her side and helped her lie down on the ground.
"Shuri." The queen reprimanded. "You should have waited until she was back in her room."
"I know, mother." At least she wasn't left alone in her state of panic, the girl was as well. "I didn't think of it." She turned to her and hurriedly gave her instructions. "You need to relax, bring your heart rate down. Come on, breathe with me."
She started demonstrating, but Maggie couldn't focus for her life. Her eyes darted throughout the room, failing to focus on anything, and the sides of her vision started to turn black. These people had just poisoned her.
Let me know what you think of this chapter, like where the story's going?
The Avengers will begin to play a more important role in the next chapter.